Excavating apparatus



June 10 1924. 1

c. L. HANSEN EXCAVAT I NG APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 uve wtoz CYRJSJ/ANL jimaszw,

June 10, 1924. 1,497,017

C. L. HANSEN EXCAVAT ING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 26. 1923 s Sheets-Sheet 5 Sum/M01 CHRISTIAN HANSEN,

Patented June 12, 1924. i

CHRISTIAN L. HANSEN, OF CHARLES CITY, IOWA.

EXCAVATING AFPABATUS.

Application filed December-26, 1923. Serial No. 682,654.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN L; HAN- SEN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Charles City, in Floyd County, in the State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Excavating Apparatus, and have described the same in the following specification, illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to that .class of ex cavators which are commonly used in diging ditches, canals and the like, and in building embankments, and which individually comprise a drag bucket,-a gate for the front end of the bucket, and means connected with a source of ower for operatively loading and emptying the bucket as well as for hoistin and suspending the same while transferrin it from the place of digging to the place 0 dumping. It is the main object of the invention to simplify the means employed in such apparatus for operating the bucket gate, and in general to increase the simplicity and efliciency of drag-line buckets having gates. To accomplish these objects I incorporate in my improved apparatus as parts thereof a drag bucket having lateral trunnions, a pair of levers fulcrumed on the trunnions respectively, a gate rigidly connected with the levers, a hoisting bail pivotally connected with the levers, hauling means connected with the body of the bucket, and a flexible connection between the hauling means and the gate.

Insaid drawings, illustrating the best manner in which I have contemplated applying the principles of the invention, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an excavating apparatus which is constructed in accordance with these principles and positioned substantially as in loading. Fig. 2 is a front end elevation of the bucket shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the section line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a plan of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is 'a side elevation of the same apparatus suspended in a loadcarrying position. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the same in a dumping position.

In the illustrated specimen of the invention the bucket proper has the approximately parallel side walls 8, which are sli htly convergent toward each other from front to rear, the arcuate bridge 9, which spans the front end of the bucket from side to side, and the floor 10, which has the anterior bucket, and means connected with these'bails for operating the gate. The latter is an oblong metallic plate nearly as long as the clear internal width'of the bucket, and approxlmately as wide from top to bottom as the depth of the bucket, and has a uniform arcuate cross-sectional curvature, which is the same as that of the path it follows in opening and closing the front end of the bucket. It is carried by the duplicate and parallel lever arms 15 and 15, extending from its opposite ends to the duplicate le vers 37 and 37 which are journaled on the bucket trunnions 16 and 16 respectively. The trunnions are secured to the opposite sides of the bucket in mutual alinement behind its centre of gravity; and, being journaled in the levers 37 respectively, they constitute the fulcrums thereof. These levers may be regarded as plates having hubs 38 on the contiguous trunnions respectively, (as shown in Fig. 3), and having the arms 39 and 40 radiating from the hubs. Each arm 39 is bolted to and continuous with one of the lever arms 15 of the gate; and each of the arms 40 is joined to the hoisting bail 13 by one of the pivot bolts 42 and 42.

The hoisting bail 13 has at its upper end the pivot bolt 17 for attachment to the hoisting cable 18 and to the swinging block 43 in which is j ournaled the shaft of t e grooved pulley 20. This bail is preferably tied to the gate 12 by the chain 21. It has in its lower ends the alined pivot bolts 42 and 42 by which the bail is pivotally joined to the lever arms 40 respectively, as above indicated. The hauling bail comprises the chains 14, which are attached to the bucket body by the bolts 48 and 48, and the junction plate 22 which is attached to the hauling cable 23. To this junction plate is attached the holding rope 25, which runs on the pulley 20 and is attached by the bolt 33 to the bearing pieces 53 and 53 on the top of the bridge 9. To the same plate is attached the opening rope 54, which is attached to the gate 12, runs over the grooved pulley 51 and under the roller 52, which are journaled in these bearing pieces, and is adapted to open the gate by tension from the hauling cable 23 positioned as in Fig. 1.

In the operation of this excavating apparatus, tension exerted upon the junctlon plate 22 by the hauling rope 23, first actuates and opens the gate 12 by means of the rope 54K, and then holds the gate in its open position, as in Fig. 1. Further tension from the hauling rope, being transmitted by the bail 14 to the body of the bucket, draws the latter forward on and into the soil, sand, mud, or other fillin material; whereby the bucket is loaded in t 1e usual manner of drag buckets in general. After the bucket has been loaded, upward tension is exerted upon the hoisting bail by the cable 18. The resulting movement of this bail relative to the body of the bucket, first turns the levers 37 on the trunnions 16 to the position shown in Fig. 5, and thereby forcibly lowers and closes the gate. Then as the upward tension continues the bucket is hoisted from the ground. 'Ihr0ughout the hoisting of the bucket and continuously until the time of its dumping, it is held in an approximately horizontal position either by the hauling bail tensioned from the hauling cable 23 or by the holding ro e 25, tensioned from the same source, or y both of these pulls conjointly, according to their direction relatively to the bucket. In this position, and with the gate closed, the suspended bucket may be transferred to the place of dumping by an appropriate transfer of the suspending cable 18, as is usual with other drag buckets. The hauling cable is then relaxed by the attendant, and consequently both the holding rope 25 and the opening rope 54 are likewise relaxed. Thereupon the bucket is tilted forward by gravity to the dumping position shown in Fig. 6, while the gate is automatically pulled open by the chain 21, as shown in the same figure. Then the bucket may be swung back and lowered to its work for another load; and so on repetitiously.

I claim as my invention 1. Excavating apparatus comprising a.

drag bucket having trunnions, a. pair of levers fulcrumed on the trunnions respec tively, a gate rigidl connected with the levers, a hoisting bail pivotally connected with the levers and chained to the gate, a hauling bail attached to the bucket, and a flexible connection between the hauling bail and the gate.

2. Excavating apparatus comprising a drag bucket having trunnions, a pair of levers fulcrumed on the trunnions respectively, a gate having arms continuous with the levers, a hoistin bail pivotally connected with the levers, a' auling bail attached to the bucket, and a flexible connection between the hauling bail and the gate.

3. Excavating apparatus comprising a drag bucket having lateral trunnions, a pair of levers fulcrumed on the trunnions respectively, a pulley journaled in bearings secured to the bucket, a gate having arms continuous with the levers, a hoistin bail pivotally connected with the levers, a auling bail attached to the bucket, and a flexible connection from the hauling bail over the pub ley to the gate.

4. Excavating apparatus comprising drag bucket having lateral trunnions, a pair of levers fulcrumed on the trunnions respectively, a gate having arms continuous with the levers, a hoisting bail pivotally connected with the levers, a hauling bail tached to the bucket, a rope connecting the hauling bail with the gate, and means carried by the bucket for guiding the rope.

5. Excavating apparatus comprising a drag bucket having lateral trunnions, a pair of levers having fulcrum-bearings journaled on the trunnions respectively, a hoisting bail pivotally connected with the levers and chained to the gate, a block connected with the hoisting bail, a hauling bail attached to the bucket, a rope connecting the hauling bail with the gate, means on the bucket for guiding the rope, and a holding rope running from the hauling bail through the block to the bucket. I

Witness my signature at @maha, Nebraska, December 22, 1923.

CHRISTIAN L. HANSEN. 

